Most conventional detergent compositions contain mixtures of various detersive surfactant components. Commonly encountered surfactant components include various anionic surfactants, especially the alkyl benzene sulfonates, alkyl sulfates, alkyl alkoxy sulfates and various nonionic surfactants, such as alkyl ethoxylates and alkylphenol ethoxylates. Surfactants have found use as detergent components capable of the removal of a wide variety of soils and stains. A consistent effort however is made by detergent manufacturers to improve detersive properties of detergent compositions by providing new and improved surfactants.
A problem commonly associated with anionic surfactants is their sensitivity to cold water and/or hard water. It is the surprising finding of the present invention that in comparison to other anionic surfactant components, the mid-chain branched surfactants utilized herein provide improved cleaning performance in cold water and/or hard water. Thus, when used in combination with other surfactants in a surfactant system, they provide liquid cleaning compositions having superior cleaning properties. They are especially effective when used in laundry cleaning processes.
In addition, the present invention liquid cleaning compositions are particularly useful for personal cleansing uses, as formulated for use as hair shampoos and body washes.
An advantage of the present invention is the improved cleaning performance of liquid detergent compositions formulated containing the described mid-chain branched surfactants as a part of the total surfactant system.